Pastor misrepresents pro-life position in ‘scientifically illiterate’ defense of IVF

Infertility is a heartbreaking struggle. Anyone who denies that lacks compassion and fails to understand the deep desire most people have to create a family. The pro-life stance, however, understands that every human life is inherently equal and valuable even during its first moments of existence beginning at fertilization. Dehumanizing those lives will lead to the dehumanization of other lives, spreading the evil and false idea that some lives are expendable. Nowhere is this more evident than through in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Recently, Pastor Jeremiah Johnston — described on the Christian Thinkers website as a New Testament scholar, pastor, author, nationally syndicated radio host, Bible teacher, and apologist — shared his and his wife’s story of struggling with infertility, and their use of IVF to create a family. “The topic of infertility is intrinsically personal and often painful, especially for women,” Johnston wrote in a piece for Fox News.

It is indeed painful and personal, but the arguments this pastor presented about IVF require some serious correction.

What the Alabama Supreme Court ruled and didn’t rule

Johnston claimed, “[A]n Alabama court decision reignited questions about the personhood of embryos that had been put to rest years ago. Unfortunately, a small but vocal minority have fixated on this position, and it has certainly been no help to the pro-life cause or to families struggling with infertility.”

Despite Johnston’s background as a Christian apologist (defender of the Christian faith), he appears to be very, very misinformed on certain points. If he believes that questions surrounding “the personhood of embryos” have ever been “put to rest,” then he hasn’t been paying attention. And “the pro-life cause” has always held the position that every human being from the moment of fertilization has the right to life — no matter how those human beings were conceived. Making certain “exceptions” as to which humans have that right and which do not is a watering down of the true pro-life position.

Perhaps Johnston listened to the unreliable mainstream media regarding the Alabama Supreme Court decision instead of verifying their claims for himself; what the Court actually said in its ruling in the case, brought by parents of embryos who had been destroyed at an Alabama fertility clinic, was that embryos can be considered children under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act.

“Unborn children are ‘children’ under the Act, without exception based on developmental stage, physical location, or any other ancillary characteristics,” said Justice James “Jay” Mitchell, writing for the court.

The court did not establish personhood for embryos, but ruled that if embryos are destroyed against the wishes of the parents, without the consent of the parents, or in an accident at the fertility clinic, parents would be allowed to sue under the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act.

Fertility clinics in the state panicked, because they know that they are destroying human lives regularly with reproductive technologies, and that more preborn human beings die during the IVF process than are born; IVF businesses were afraid of being sued following the ruling, so many suspended their practices out of that fear.

God’s plan, not man’s

Johnston stated, “As it had already been during many other doctor appointments, science and faith came together in our quest to become pregnant. Our relationship with God was essential, and we were inspired to do everything we could to become pregnant, which meant the financial and emotional risk of IVF.”

But in saying this, Johnston is claiming that God finds the purposeful destruction of human life during the IVF process acceptable. He is confusing God’s plan with his own. Every child that is conceived is made in the image of God, so we must ask ourselves: Does God approve of “weeding out” certain embryos in favor of the ones with fewer “defects” and then destroying the “defective” ones? Does God approve of producing multiple human beings in a lab and then “grading” them and selecting only the best for implantation, leaving the rest potentially in cold storage indefinitely?

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has explained:

Human beings bear the image and likeness of God. They are to be reverenced as sacred. Never are they to be used as a means to an end, not even to satisfy the deepest wishes of an infertile couple. Husbands and wives “make love,” they do not “make babies.” They give expression to their love for one another, and a child may or may not be engendered by that act of love. The marital act is not a manufacturing process, and children are not products. Like the Son of God himself, we are the kind of beings who are “begotten, not made” and, therefore, of equal status and dignity with our parents.

In IVF, children are engendered through a technical process, subjected to “quality control,” and eliminated if found “defective.” In their very coming into being, these children are thoroughly subjected to the arbitrary choices of those bringing them into being.

In the words of Donum Vitae: “The connection between in vitro fertilization and the voluntary destruction of human embryos occurs too often. This is significant: through these procedures, with apparently contrary purposes, life and death are subjected to the decision of man, who thus sets himself up as the giver of life and death by decree.” The document speaks of “the right of every person to be conceived and to be born within marriage and from marriage.” To be within and from marriage, conception should occur from the marriage act which by its nature is ordered toward loving openness to life, not from the manipulations of technicians.

Human embryos are human beings

Then Johnston claimed, “What a handful of lawmakers and a few judges fail to understand is that an embryo doesn’t always transform into a pregnancy or develop into a child – whether that’s entirely naturally in the womb or with help via medical procedures like IVF. An embryo is not synonymous with a child. That was true even before IVF existed. Only when an embryo successfully attaches in a mother’s womb does a child begin its beautiful journey to soon living an independent life.”

It is clear that Pastor Johnston is not only unclear about embryology, but is also attempting to diminish the views of those whom he disdainfully claims are a mere “handful” of lawmakers and a “few” judges who lack “understand[ing]” — presumably, unlike himself.

A new, distinct, living, human organism comes into being at the moment of fertilization, which happens in the woman’s Fallopian tubes (if conceived through natural means). That human is alive while making his or her way down the tube to the uterus, where that genetically distinct human being with his or her own DNA will either implant in the endometrial lining (and hopefully go on to survive) or fail to implant (resulting in death). That embryo is alive before he or she “attaches in a mother’s womb.” When fertilized via IVF, that living embryo is cryopreserved. Johnston’s claim is not scientific.

Science advisor Dr. David Prentice told Live Action News that those who claim “that an embryo is ‘not alive’ because it is just a few cells… that is an assertion not based on science but on their ideology.” He also described the process of cryopreserving a living embryo for IVF:

… when thawed, the embryo continues its growth and development, picks up where it left off, and when implanted into the uterine lining can gestate. Molecular motion is not completely stopped but is slowed to infinitesimal rates.

The freezing process includes use of cryopreservative chemicals that replace the water in the cells (to prevent ice crystal formation) and stabilize the cell membranes. It works because embryos are frozen when they only have a few, up to maybe 100-150, cells. Even then, not all cells may survive the thawing (water that is still present creates ice crystals that rip the cell) and the more damage, the less survival of an embryo.

This is also why the process doesn’t work for a newborn, or even a whole organ, as there are too many cells to try to cryopreserve and will be too much damage from thawing.

It is clear that these are living, human embryos who “continue… growth and development,” and are alive because “molecular motion… is slowed,” but not stopped. These are living human beings in their embryonic stage, who were created using the cells and DNA from their biological parents. This means they are the offspring of those parents. The argument that these offspring are somehow “not synonymous with children” is not biologically sound; it is sophistry.

Dr. Calum Miller weighed in regarding Johnston’s claims:

Medical experts know that a new human organism comes into being when the gametes fuse at fertilization, but proponents of emergency contraception, abortion, birth control, and IVF have worked to manipulate language, redefining long-known terms to fit their narrative and justify their illicit actions — including Planned Parenthood and the pro-abortion ACOG. A bit of history: The process of redefining things like “conception” and “fertilization” began in the 1960s, initiated by population control (and birth control) advocates… and the goal posts began to move.

To justify the commodification of children in IVF, Johnston claimed, “[A]n embryo doesn’t always transform into a pregnancy or develop into a child.” While we’ve already discussed the nonsensical equivocation over the term “child,” it should be noted that embryos never “transform into” pregnancies. “Pregnancy” is defined as the period of time during which a preborn child gestates in the womb. A human being is not “a pregnancy” (unless you’re Planned Parenthood, and you decide to change and redefine language to avoid humanizing the preborn child in any way). Is Pastor Johnston comfortable with utilizing the same deceptive terminology as the nation’s number one abortion provider?

In addition, while approximately 10-20% of known pregnancies end in miscarriage, this doesn’t make the immoral act of intentionally destroying a human life moral. It’s akin to saying that not all newborns will develop into toddlers, not all toddlers will develop into teens, and not all teens will develop into adults, and therefore, murder is acceptable. Sometimes people die young, but that doesn’t make it acceptable to kill younger people because they haven’t reached a certain level of development.

No legitimately pro-life person can honestly believe this to be accurate.

A Never Before Seen Look At Human Life In The Womb | Baby Olivia

The preborn child begins to grow and develop at the moment of fertilization, not at implantation, as Johnston claims.

According to Cleveland Clinic (emphases added):

On average, 70% of mature eggs will fertilize [when retrieved during the IVF process]. For example, if 10 mature eggs are retrieved, about seven will fertilize….

Over the next five to six days, the development of your embryos will be carefully monitored.

Your embryo must overcome significant hurdles to become an embryo suitable for transfer to your uterus. On average, 50% of fertilized embryos progress to the blastocyst stage. … The remaining 50% typically fail to progress and are discarded.

All embryos suitable for transfer will be frozen on day five or six of fertilization to be used for future embryo transfers.

If these embryos aren’t alive, how are they developing for five to six days before they’re frozen?

Johnston continued, “But what I’ve learned from endocrinologists – many sharing the same faith as I do might I add – is that a handful of outliers claiming an embryo in and of itself is the beginning of pregnancy simply misunderstand the process and hinder moms and dads on their journey to give birth and start families.”

This fallacious appeal to the authority of endocrinologists who “share” his “faith” and the misuse of terminology in this statement appear to be an exercise in manipulation. A distinct human being is created at fertilization — that living human being then begins the growth process — whether conceived naturally or via IVF. If conceived by IVF, that human being will either be discarded or implanted in the uterus after five to six days of development; if conceived naturally, that human travels down the Fallopian tubes toward the uterus, where he or she will then implant — implantation being the time which ACOG now defines as the beginning of the time period known as “pregnancy.” An embryo is the human whose implantation initiates that condition. That human offspring, if he or she continues to develop in the womb, will progress through different stages of development, such as blastocyst, zygote, embryo, fetus, neonate, and so forth.

The developing embryonic human being, therefore, exists days prior to implantation, which ACOG defines as the beginning of pregnancy. And… it’s sending the woman’s body chemical signals already. As Live Action News previously reported:

[The Endowment for Human Development] writes that on day two — just 24-48 hours after fertilization occurs — “pregnancy can be confirmed by detecting a hormone called ‘early pregnancy factor’ or EPF in the mother’s blood. … This substance helps prevent the mother’s immune system from rejecting the soon-to-be-implanted embryo and allows pregnancy to proceed.” In other words, well before a baby has implanted into the lining of his mother’s womb (which EHD says happens around day 6), he is already sending out signals that he is alive and is not a foreign substance to be rejected.

The beginning of pregnancy and the beginning of human life are not synonymous.

In addition, contrary to popular belief (thanks to deceptive media and abortion industry allies), a pregnancy can be ended without intentionally killing a preborn child. Natural birth, emergency c-sections, and induced labor all end a pregnancy, but they do not intentionally end a human life.

Johnston continued, “Over the course of time, before a natural pregnancy even begins, multiple embryos will likely have attempted to attach to the womb as future parents try to have children. Only 25% of the time are they successful. And with IVF, multiple embryos are often also needed to have the blessing of success and for the pregnancy to officially begin.”

The fact that natural death occurs has never and will never justify intentionally causing death or participating in a process in which human beings are dehumanized and destroyed at will. Embryos are His creation, and humans are not to create or destroy them at will.

Johnston said they “were blessed to have additional health embryos” that led to the births of additional children after the birth of their daughter in 2008. This begs the question: what happened to their embryos deemed “unhealthy?” He further argued that if fertility doctors are not allowed to “create multiple embryos,” adults won’t get what they want — again, putting adult wishes ahead of both God’s word and the rights of children.

Again, being an IVF-supporting Christian along with some fertility doctors does not determine the morality of IVF; this fallacious “appeal to authority” doesn’t outweigh God’s authority. He is the author of life and the giver of children.

Regardless of the circumstances of their conception, Johnston’s five born children created through IVF are all worthy of life… and their siblings, lost or destroyed during the process, were equally inherently valuable and worthy of life.

Human embryos created through IVF are tragically treated like items on a store shelf, labeled “fresh,” “frozen,” “high quality,” “poor quality,” and given numbers such as 5AA or 4AB. Those deemed unworthy are destroyed, though there are indications that some embryos who are thrown away could have survived, but were denied the opportunity.

The pro-life position does not support creating children through reproductive technologies to fulfill adult desires; it supports protecting human life — even those lives created in a lab.

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